Crypto Is a ‘Crock’? Twitter Reacts to House ICO Hearing

Despite the overall measured tone among lawmakers at Wednesday’s House subcommittee hearing on initial coin offerings, a few members of the panel made inflammatory statements.

Social media users responded in kind.

The most incendiary comment came from California Rep. Brad Sherman, who called cryptocurrencies a “crock.” While some Twitter users merely encouraged him to educate himself on the topic, his incredulity that anyone would need alternatives to the legacy banking system and his warnings about a crypto-funded terror attack drew harsher responses.

@BradSherman with all due respect sir, please do not speak about cryptocurrency again. You obviously know too little about it to make competent statements and you obviously need some history lessons. #ICOsInTheHouse#cryptocurrency

“Cryptocurrencies are a crock. They are popular with guys who sit around in their pajamas and tell their wives they’re going to be millionaires.” – Congressman @BradShermanTechnological illiteracy aside, thank you for the sexist slight.#ICOsInTheHouse

Tagging @BradSherman because I’d rather talk to him than about him. Congressman, your views on cryptocurrencies are outdated & poorly researched. You showed extreme ignorance of both the world economy and the technology behind crypto. You left mid-hearing, why? #ICOsInTheHouse

Still other users simply found Sherman’s ideas about the space amusing.

Funny I am watching Sherman complain about crypto having no social benefit and how harmful it is while embedded in the Financial Services website right beside the video is a tracker of the national debt. #ICOsInTheHouse

‘A bright light’

At the other end of the spectrum, Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, a member of the Congressional Blockchain Caucus, was lauded on crypto Twitter for breaking with his fellow lawmakers with a full-throated defense of the technology.

He argued that Congress should not attempt to regulate a subject it does not understand, and added that “access to capital is something Democrats and Republicans should celebrate.”

A bright light during this (mostly redundant) hearing was Minnesota Rep Tom Emmer’s portion. He started off with a bang by saying “I hear elected officials who don’t have any concept of what we’re dealing with here … talking about ‘we have to go in and regulate.'”

@tomemmer Thank you for defending innovation at the financial services committee!! Cryptocurrencies will force banks to become a hyper-deflationary monetary policy, but we need leaders like you to help change the tide.

Emmer’s statements were so positive that some on Twitter considered granting him the “cryptodaddy” title, which Commodity Futures Trading Commission chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo has held since his own hearing appearance last month.

We have a new Crypto Daddy –> @RepTomEmmer from the US house. Sounds bullish. “I am worried about giving more power to the government and taking liberty from the public.” #ICOsInTheHouse

Notable figures in the industry also weighed in on the hearing, including Stephen Palley of Anderson Kill, who recently started a practice at his firm focused on cleaning up messes in the crypto space.

Wednesday’s hearing was the third such event in two months, though the conversation in Congress (and on Twitter) is likely to continue.

Rep. Bill Huizenga, the chairman of the subcommittee on capital markets, securities and investment, concluded the hearing by telling the panelists, “I believe that this is probably hello and not goodbye.”

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